This pours out a clear walnut color with a moderate initial head that fades within a few seconds. The aroma is fantastic, with a substantial bouquet of resinous, grassy hops. A delight to sniff. High bitterness and a lot of piney hop flavor start the taste, but there's a solid malt backbone to provide balance. Neutral, clean yeast profile. Lingeringly dry finish.

A - Pours a deep cherry color thats really clear. A nice two and a half finger head develops and slowly falls. The head is light tan in color and really dense.

S - Smells of Pine, and Grapefruit hops. Some florally accents as well and some cinnamon and light clove spice.

T - Taste is of grapefruit and pineapple with more citrus hops backing it. Some banana flavor which is one of the first times that I can point this out. There is also some sweetness at the end of the taste. Perhaps a touch of caramel and toffee from the malts.

M - Mouthfeel is light with good carbonation. No lingering taste besides a very slight hop bitterness.

D - A nice pale ale with some good flavors. I liked this beer alot. Thanks Greg! (815 characters)

12oz can - Best by April 20th, 2011, should be decently fresh - Poured into a pint glass...

Pours a deep, dark amber color with tons of meringue-like, light tan head. A bunch of lacing is left behind...

A good amount of aromatic hops fill the nose, piny and resinous, with just a little bit of citrus twist. An abundance of sweet, caramel malt adds a lot to the nose, but cuts down a bit too much on the hop aromas. Somewhere lingering in the background is this weird, almost "cherry cholorseptic spray" smell, but now that is all I can focus on...

Hmmm, taste is a bit thin, and kind of weird. Starts out almost completely void of flavor at first, watery, then the hops build, but they are bitter and one-sided, not much flavor, just bittering hops. Caramel malt adds a bit of body and some sweetness, but overall, this one just falls flat...

Appearance -- Pours a cupric amber hue, lots of brightness, with golden highlights and a slim sudsy beige head. The hard pour didn't do much for the head. A modicum of lace can be seen. Good color, bad head.

Mouthfeel -- Medium-light body with sharp carbonation. Finish is dry with a bit of tannin. Not great.

Drinkability -- This beer is a bit of a muddled mess: lots of interesting flavors, but they don't gel: toasty sweet, musky, spicy, earthy. Less would have been more. In the end it's about average. (807 characters)

The beer pours a very dark orange color with a white head. One of the darkest pale ales I have seen. The aroma is fairly heavy on the orange citrus notes with some biscuit malt and some caramel malt. The flavor is orange citrus, bread and toffee. The beer is very well balanced and the bitterness is fairly low. Still, there is a ton of hop flavor. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Another very nice canned beer from Colorado. (434 characters)

Thank you Ska for bucking the trends. Its a nice switch up to see a an easy drinking pale show up as a winter release. Euphoria pours a deep copper color. Things are topped off by a healthy fingers worth of bone white head. Head falls to a ring somewhat quickly. A fair bit of lace is left in its wake.

Onto the aroma. Hops are at the forefront. Grapefruit notes standout first. Light herbal mint notes present as well. Fair bit of malt behind the hops. Some toasted bready notes strike first. Light caramel shows up next to round out the nose.

Taste matches the nose well. The hops are more dominate on the palate. Mint notes seem to take a stronger role. The grapefruit character strikes a bit more herbal blending with the minty hop quality. Beneath the herbal hops is a solid malt backing. Malt strikes a bit sweeter than the nose lets on. Bready malt character dominates. The toasted notes in the aroma are more subdued.. Some caramel notes hit near the end. The finish is a bit drying with a lingering herbal bitterness.

Euphoria leans towards medium bodied. The carbonation is adequate.

Digging this winter release from Ska. Its a solid easy drinking pale ale. Its nicely balanced. The hops, while dominate, never overwhelm the malt. I generally prefer my pales on the citrusy side of things. The more herbal qualities of Euphoria offer a tasty change of pace. Thank you ska for another nice offering. (1,412 characters)

Aromas of slightly pungent bittersweet citrus on top of a rich caramel malty base, with a light piney woodsy note. Spot on for the style.

Lacking somewhat on the palate; flavors are qutie muddled and subdued. Dry, bitter hops, almost astringent, but kind of vague, with something of a vague maltiness to back it up. There's a bit of citrusy sweetness and a mild buttery toffee character, but that's about it.

Medium bodied and firm, dry and a bit tacky. Has a bit of a "wintery" feel to it, but disappointing. (647 characters)

Ferric oxide orange with a pillowy and bubbly crown of light brown sugar colored foam that filled almost half the pint glass on the pour. Generous sheets of BB-shot lace are beginning to appear, which makes the score a cinch to choose.

The aroma is impressively hoppy, so this can must be fresh. That makes perfect sense since this is a winter release. Various sources say that loads of Goldings hops are used, but it smells like something much more tropical fruity is hogging the olfactory spotlight. Amarillo is possible and Simcoe is probable.

Euphoria Pale is damn good beer, so it's strange that Ska doesn't even mention it on their website. I have only had a couple of mouthfuls and it's obvious that several cans should have made their way into my cart rather than just this one. Time for distribution to Iowa rather than stopping at the Missouri River.

The malts tastes toasted and caramel-like with minimal earthiness. Again, the hops (which are still roughing up the tongue at this point) taste like a mixture of American and English varieties. Citric and spicy and slightly herbal... and dee-licious. Wonderful sweet-bitter balance too.

The mouthfeel is more APA-like than IPA-like. Another oddity is that SBC calls this brew an APA on the can, but an IPA in their press releases. It definitely feels more like the smaller style in the mouth. No problems with the bubbles at all.

Ska's Euphoria may not be as widely known or as highly regarded as another Colorado canned pale ale (Oskar Blues Dale's), but it's equally as good and may even be slightly better. A true head-to-head would settle the score(s). It seems like a no-brainer that both of these breweries should be distributing their wares to the Hawkeye State. (1,735 characters)

I am euphoric at the prospect of being able to add another Ska beer to The CANQuest (TM)! It just makes me want to throw my hands in the air and snowboard like I just don't care. CAN you dig it?

From the CAN: "Daffy-Hibernate-Curl-Recycle-Skin Up Fatty-Lutz-Skeleton-Recycle-Ice Fish-Check-Recycle"; "Ska's Winter Offering"; "A Venture/Ska Venture"; "Hand-Crafted In the Mighty San Juans"

On the Crack, I noticed that it was full up to the lip, Fatty! The Glug produced two-plus fingers' worth of rocky light-tan head with good retention. Color was a slightly hazy orangish-amber. Nose was slightly grapefruit citrusy with a caramel-malt overtone. Mouthfeel was medium with a lot of caramel-malt in the mouth and the hops more muted than I might have liked. Oops! BB: 06/01/10. Still, not bad and worth another try if anyone would care to send me some. Finish had some hops to it, but it was still pretty sweet for an APA. Definitely worth another try.

Here is my second try on Sunday, 02 August 2015. Where does the time go?

The Crack! was nice and loud, but the CAN was not as brimful as it was on the initial review. I went with an inverted Glug as a result. This culminated in two fingers of rocky, tawny head with very good retention. The smell was minty, like freshly-cut peppermint. Color was Coppery-Brown (SRM = > 17, < 22) with NE-quality clarity. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, almost creamy. The hops worked well with the malts in this instance. The hops were very minty while the malt had a biscuity cereal-like flavor, almost like bran. The finish was clean, dry and minty. It was a refreshing beer, for sure. (1,626 characters)

Toasty malt and caramel, puffed wheat/cereal grains, and some moderate hop bitterness, earthy and aspirin like. Not quite as nice as the nose was. Still its light and refreshing, easy to put back. Not sure why this is a winter offering, sems better suited to warmer weather. Glad I got to try this as part of a gift pack.

2010: fresh can at Four Moon. Much more citrus and grapefruit in the nose and flavor. Much better than I remember, a nice fall/winter hop fix for hopheads. (635 characters)

A: Pours a dark amber with a big white head that fades to a small layer and leaves a ton of sticky lacing on the glass.

S: The nose is full of tropical fruits, pine, and a nice malty base. Smells sweet yet you can tell it's going to be a bit bitter.

T: The taste is slight tropical fruits with a piney bitter finish. There's a sweetness from the malt in there as well.

M: The feel is creamy and yet crisp and medium bodied.

D: Very tasty Pale Ale and I will be having more of these. Ska seems to know their hops and this is seems to be a slightly maltier version of Modus Hoperandi. The ABV doesn't seem to be too big...I'd guess around 6%.

Nice Pale Ale and one I will be picking up many times over the winter for my hop fix. (760 characters)

A: Pours a clear orange/copper color. At first a two finger bubbly white head forms, but recedes in an instant. Light lace is left behind.S: Up front, huge resiny pine aromas. Almost shockingly so at first. Once it warms up a bit, more citrus hops and some malty sweetness for balance.T: Big pine up front again, though not as much as a shock as the nose. Maybe I was expecting it? Plenty of citrus as well. Though much more bread/biscuit malt for balance. Simple, but very nice.M/D: A medium body and carbonation. Crisp, clean, and very dry. Easy to drink. At first I was afraid the resinous pine was going to take over to much. Though it does not, and I can put back a few without a thought.

Overall, a very nice pale ale. A good stand by to keep in the fridge. Something I would recommend. (796 characters)

12 oz can with a best by 03/18/11 stamp on the bottom rim of the can. I am excited about Ska putting best by dates on their products! Pours a very clear copper color with a frothy cap of off-white foam. Retention is ok, but lacing is awesome.

Nose is easily identifiable citric hops and caramel malt. Clean, basic but nice and fresh. Maybe some pine resin comes in to give it a bit of a winter release feel.

Taste is piney, citric and toffee-biscuit malty. Little bit of cola and nutmeg spice notes as it warms. Strikes a nice balance between hops and malt, but falls firmly in the bitter camp. Very clean, almost refreshing. Nice mouthfeel and well carbonated. This is tasty brew, but does not make me think winter release necessarily. (738 characters)

Poured this beer out of a goofy blue metallic can and was pleasantly surprised! I was a bit concerned cause there wasn't a tssst sound when I pulled the tab on the can, but it poured out an adequately carbonated dark copper/brownish color. I bought it mostly because I knew it was fresh at my local crappy liquor store cause they just started carrying it. Note there was NO freshness date, almost a requirement IMO. Beer has a rather strong citric/tropical fruity hop smell, very faint malt and slight alcohol in the nose. Beer has nice lacing on my glass. I am a little confused about this beer, doesn't seem to be a winter warmer, has a very strong hop appeal almost like an IPA, and the can is labeled as their winter seasonal offering for a local snowboard company. Hmm, things are different over in Colorado and hey, good for them, this is a good beer, I suppose in say, a SN Celebration Ale sort of way, with a more wild fruity hop taste than spicey hop in SN. I can't detect a very substantial maltiness despite the darker color of the beer, never pale at all! The mouthfeel is smooth and never too heavy like some IPA's. I am not sure about the drinkability of this beer because I am guessing about a 6.0+ ABV. I have been meaning to try Ska Brewing Company beers, like the can fomat but have often stayed away because I have never known it to be fresh or not due to no freshness date. So, I was pleasantly surprised at what was packed in that little can. Will try more of their beers. (1,493 characters)